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by Joe Carr The AGMOur Annual General Meeting for Victoria Centre was held on November 17, 2007. As usual, Gorge Vale Golf Club catering had a wonderful buffet dinner spread out for us. Of course, the whole purpose of this event is to elect a new Council, and Scott Mair our Past President took care of the nominations to Council. Most of us continue with our second term, however there was some shuffling of duties and we also have a new Treasurer - welcome Martin Shephard. Bruno Quenneville is no stranger to Council, and has returned as a Member-at-large. Malcolm Scrimger and Dirk Yzenbrandt are also new Members-at-large. I was very pleased to present the Newton Ball Service Award for 2007 to David Lee. David is a most deserving candidate, and a good friend. We also honored three of our fellow members whose considerable talents with astrophotography deserved some recognition: Guy Walton, John McDonald, and Charles Banville. Stephen Courtin was recognized for his ongoing volunteer work with our public outreach efforts over the past several years. I was fascinated with the presentation about a new type of underwater observatory from our speaker, Brian Bornhold, Project Scientist, NEPTUNE Canada Regional Cabled Observatory. If you didn't attend the AGM, you missed lots of interesting happenings! See the photos Observatory ProjectI'm pleased to report we have raised $11,275 to date - $1,000 more than last month! Our Project Manager Bruno Quenneville made a detailed presentation to the attendees at Astronomy Caf� on Nov 26th and signed up several volunteers. The construction should start in December, and Bruno expects the basic components of the building will be put in place quite quickly (unless Mother Nature gives us a harsh winter). Observatory Project ObservingComet 17/P Holmes continues to delight all who look up at Perseus on clear nights. Refer to Observing Highlights for our members' observations, sketches and photographs. Refer to our Zenfolio RASC Victoria Centre Astrophoto Galleries for photos and sketches of the comet and lots of other beautiful phenomena as well. December 23rd holds a special treat for us, assuming the weather cooperates. Mars will be occulted by the Moon, and only those of us here on the west coast of Canada will see it! When Mars puts on a show for us, I always think of our good friend Ernie Pfannenschmidt. If he were still alive, I know he would be out in his driveway at every opportunity observing and sketching Mars. Mars is the largest it will appear until 2012, so even if you miss the occultation event, be sure to get out there and observe Mars this month. |
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